Some areas of focus for Duke as the Blue Devils hold their first football scrimmage
An important milestone of preseason practices, Duke’s first intra-squad scrimmage of the month arrives Saturday offering more clues to the team’s plans for the season.
Though closed to the general public, the scrimmage will be held at Wallace Wade Stadium.
“Just knock on wood,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe said following Wednesday’s practice, “we stay healthy and get to Saturday where we can go to the stadium and see what our football team looks like.”
The Blue Devils, though, are already not a fully healthy team as defensive lineman Gary Smith, in the mix to start at defensive tackle, had arthroscopic knee surgery after missing practice Wednesday. So he won’t be participating in Saturday’s scrimmage.
Who takes advantage of the extra repetitions with the first team in Smith’s absence will be one area to watch during the scrimmage.
Here’s more on that and other topics:
Smith injury and defensive line depth
Duke is replacing three starters along its defensive line. The lone returning starter, Ben Frye, is moving from defensive tackle to defensive end.
Smith and fellow sophomore DeWayne Carter started practice in line to start at the two defensive tackle slots with Frye and sophomores R.J. Oben and Caleb Oppan vying for playing time at the opposite side defensive end.
Cutcliffe said Smith’s injury isn’t new; it’s something that’s bothered him in the past that everyone decided needs repaired now so he can be ready for the season-opener on Sept. 3 at Charlotte.
“This is just a scope, a quick fix,” Cutcliffe said. “We’re doing this now because I don’t want to get to game five and something get worse. He could be out there. But we just made a decision to get to 100%. This is something a little old. Not bothering him a lot, but it’s bothering him enough.”
Two Wake County high school products, Christian Rorie (Enloe) and Aeneas Peebles (Knightdale), are Duke’s top reserve defensive tackles as sophomores.
Running back outlook
Mataeo Durant enters his senior season as a focal point of Duke’s offense. A preseason all-ACC pick at running back, Durant ran for 817 yards in a reserve role last season and could get enough carries to threaten the 1,000-yard mark.
Still, the Blue Devils need to develop depth behind him. That point was driven home this week when Durant developed a non-COVID illness and had to miss practice on Wednesday when the team went in full pads for the first time.
Though Durant returned to practice on Thursday and has tested negative for COVID-19, his brief absence gave other backs a chance to shine. Cutcliffe said redshirt sophomore backs Jaylen Coleman and Jordan Waters ran well.
Nakeie Montgomery, a Duke lacrosse all-American midfielder who joined the football team this summer, is starting to get more looks.
“Nakeie had a good day,” Cutcliffe said. “Didn’t get a lot, but he’s getting better and better now, let me tell you.”
Cutcliffe also liked what he saw from freshmen Jaquez Moore and Trent Davis.
“Those two freshmen that we got in here, Trent and Jaquez, they showed up today,” Cutcliffe said Wednesday, “which didn’t surprise me either. I’ve seen that here’s their sixth practice here? Wow. Yeah, I’m excited about the now and I’m excited about the future, that position.”
Turnover bug cured?
Duke is hyper-focused on ball security as the new season dawns. After committing 39 turnovers in 11 games last season to lead the nation in that category, that’s an obvious area of concern.
While new starting quarterback Gunnar Holmberg has thrown interceptions in the early days of practice, Cutcliffe isn’t alarmed.
“It’s been better,” he said of ball security as a whole, “but not what I want. The quarterback position first and foremost as to really understand. You know, I have a little rhyme I was told. Absolutely, the worst result of every play is first and 10 the other way.”
Duke saw that far too often last season. The scrimmage Saturday night will offer a peek into its progress.